Although I have been up all night, I really need to wash clothes, so I go to the Laundromat near the hostel and do a couple of loads. With my huge backpack on and the front basket full, I make a silly sight pedaling the bike back to Baisikeli. I talk to my brother on the phone while walking to the Metro station. At the airport, I give the clip ticket with 4 rides still left on it to a couple of Italian tourists. It has been through three hands already, maybe they will pass it on as well! Anyway, the karma feels good. I have several hours before my flight to Berlin, and have to wait to check my bags. I am so extremely tired it is almost dangerous. I call Frank who is meeting me at the airport and putting me up in his home, and I warn him that I will be collapsing not long after I arrive. Sitting with my luggage cart outside in front of the check-in area, I have another surreal experience. A guy walks up to me smoking a giant reefer of tobacco and hash. There are pilots, stewardesses, security people, maintenance workers and travelers walking all around us. He offers me the smoke, and I accept. He tells me he is Iranian, and I tell him I am from the US. He says our two countries should do what he and I are doing, sharing and making peace! He explains he is seeing his family off to Iran, and brags that he deals hash from Marrakesh at a place not far from here. This at the airport! He leaves me with the giant roach and says good luck. I am astonished, not to mention completely stoned. I sleep on the plane on the short flight to Berlin, and am dead tired when I arrive. Still, Frank and I take a light dinner at an Italian place around the corner from his apartment in Friedrichshain (formerly East Berlin). We talk for a while about many things, and Frank sets me up with the sofa bed in his office. He graciously copies all the photos and videos from my camera on to DVDs for me so I can free up storage for more. I drift off to sleep with the sound of Leonard Cohen coming from his very impressive computer speakers. |
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